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Lear Corp. will give Wayne State University $2.5 million to help build a new auditorium in the under-construction Mike Ilitch School of Business. The auditorium will be named for the company.

"Wayne State has been a great partner to Lear," Matt Simoncini, president and CEO of Lear, told the Free Press in a phone interview. “It's been a great place for our executives to continue their education. It's great to have a world-class business education facility embedded in the business community. We believe in President (M. Roy) Wilson and his leadership."

The new facility is being built near the new Red Wings stadium in between downtown Detroit and Midtown where the university is located. The Ilitch family gave $35 million towards the construction, with the rest of the approximately $50 million total cost to come from the university. This gift goes toward the university's cost.

Simoncini, an alumnus of Wayne State, serves as president of the Wayne State University Foundation Board.

This gift to Wayne State is the latest example of Lear’s ongoing commitment to Detroit. In 2015, Lear purchased a historic building on State Street in Capitol Park and has since renovated this site to house a world-class Innovation Center. Lear also purchased the 50,000-square-foot Hemmeter Building to house employees from the company’s shared services, information technology and administrative operations.

"Detroit is the epicenter of this sea change in our industry. We are glad to be a part of it and want to help Wayne State continue to be involved," Simoncini said.

“Lear has shown continued dedication to Wayne State and Detroit, and this gift is another example of that commitment,” said Mike Ilitch School of Business Dean Robert Forsythe in a news release.

Planned features for the auditorium include seating for more than 280 with additional standing room, vehicle loading and staging capacity for automotive events, and state-of-the-art audiovisual and collaboration tools.

“The new Mike Ilitch School of Business is a tremendous new development in Detroit’s business community,” Wayne State University President M. Roy Wilson said in a news release, “and Lear’s investment will allow us to create a world-class business school auditorium that will witness the achievements of generations of the city’s business students and corporate leaders.”